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A Submission on the Hawke Interim report on the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth)
(2009)
  • Sarah Holcombe, Australian National University
  • Matthew Rimmer, Australian National University College of Law
  • Terri Janke
Abstract
There are currently no regulatory mechanisms, laws or policies that specifically provide rights to Indigenous peoples over their Indigenous knowledge and intellectual property. We strongly recommend that the commonwealth take the lead to ensure that national sui generis laws are developed (perhaps to operate initially in areas of Cth jurisdiction, such as IPAs and national parks). The development of such laws should be in tandem with practical guidelines to assist their implementation. A comprehensive, nationally consistent scheme for access to genetic resources, which offers meaningful protection of traditional knowledge and substantive benefit-sharing with Indigenous communities, has to be developed. There are already a range of reports/resources that urge these same reforms and that we direct the Enquiry to again; these include the Voumard Report (2000) – especially Fourmile’s Appendix 10 – “Indigenous Interests”, and Terri Jankes “Our Culture, Our Future (1998).
Publication Date
August, 2009
Citation Information
Sarah Holcombe, Matthew Rimmer and Terri Janke. "A Submission on the Hawke Interim report on the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth)" (2009)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/matthew_rimmer/80/